A group of Ohio advocacy groups wants the state to extend the 2020 census deadline by four months.

Legislation was just introduced in the House and Senate Tuesday. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the national 2020 Census response rate is 65.9 percent.

In Ohio, the response rate is above the national average at 69.9 percent.

Mahoning County's response rate is 68 percent (close to its final 2010 rate), Trumbull County's is 70.4 percent (has already exceeded its final 2010 rate) and Columbiana County's self-response is 68.5 percent (has already exceeded its final 2010 rate).

The more localized areas within the counties are proving to be a concern.

"In Mahoning County, we have a few areas that are lagging, Youngstown, the Campbell and Struthers area, north and south-west side of Youngstown are a little bit behind," said Susan Licate, Media Specialist For the U.S. Census Bureau. "In Trumbull County, Warren is lagging behind, and in Columbiana, East Liverpool and Wellsville are lagging behind. We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to respond and to be counted."

Nationally, billions of dollars are spent on funding schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other programs.

This is a reason why the Ohio Census Advocacy Coalition is pushing back against the September 30th deadline that was moved up from October 31st.

They also feel that the process will be rushed and could cause errors.

"So any inaccuracy in that data is potentially going to create gaps in our funding streams and critical programs in these neighborhoods," said Katherine Ungar, a policy associate of the coalition.

The Trump Administration has said that it needed to move up the deadline so that final numbers could be in by the end of December.

Congress plans to draw new congressional lines and the redistricting data statutory deadline for that is March 31st, 2021.